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High School Sophomores Indicted for Hacking into School Computer

The four senior high students, who had invaded the computers of Chatham (New Jersey) School District, retrieving tests and messages and breaking it down two times during the previous academic year, were formally charged on October15, 2007.

According to reports in nj.com's October 16, 2007 edition, school Superintendent Jim O'Neill maintained that they were decent school kids, from respectable families who had committed a stupid blunder. They saw it as a thrilling challenge.

Whilst acknowledging hacking of computer systems, a 16-year-old Chatham lad believed to be the censurable was charged with a second-degree crime of hacking into the school computers. The charge will be dropped if they avoid trouble for one whole year. The fifth suspect is due to appear in court Oct. 29.

According to the officials, the attack malfunctioned the computers of the district nearly twice, and caused financial losses amounting to almost $5,500 to the district. The three schoolboys who pleaded guilty in juvenile court were each directed to shell out twenty percent of that cost.

As stated by authorities, they hacked scores, exams and exam grades. O'Neill alleged that exploiting program which tracked keystrokes made on a PC at Chatham High School's library, they harvested passwords of students and three academicians, along with the district's computer administrator.

O'Neill added that from October 2006 to June this year, the students hacked messages and transferred three tests, two of them were from past years.

Police are endeavoring to ascertain if the sophomores altered any score or data.

The Chatham lad confessed that he had loaded software that let the sophomores infiltrate the computers and was awarded a punishment of 20 days in work program. In order to settle charges filed by the district administration, he quitted Chatham High School and entered another public high school in a junior class.

The Chatham High schoolboy, who had transferred the software employed to access the computers, was sentenced two weeks in the labor program, after confessing to a third-degree charge of hacking, which will be dropped within one year. School authorities had debarred the student (who is now a junior) for five days.